A synopsis of the story

Based on a video game, this film tells the
story of a young street orphan, Dastan (played as an adult by Jake Gyllenhaal) adopted
by the Persian King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), who admires the boy’s strength
and courage. Dastan is raised alongside the king’s sons, his heir Tus (Richard
Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell).

As adults, Dastan, Tus and Garsiv invade
the holy city of Alamut, whose inhabitants according to the King’s brother
Nizam (Ben Kingsley) have been manufacturing and smuggling weapons (swords and
spears) to Persia’s enemies. During the invasion, Dastan manages to take
possession of an ancient jewelled dagger “The Dagger of Time”. This is a
magical dagger which, if misused, is capable of releasing “The Sands of Time”, a
gift from the gods capable of changing history or destroying the world.

With the sacking of Alamut complete, the
three brothers confront Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), Alamut’s ruler and
the rightful guardian of the Dagger of Time and Tus announces his intention to
marry her. However, due to treachery and treason, King Sharaman is killed by a
poisoned coat given to him by Dastan. Dastan is immediately accused of the
King’s murder and forced to escape with the Princess, who hopes to retrieve the
Dagger.

The pair escape into
the desert and before long are captured by Sheik Amar (Alfred Molinar) and his
band of followers. The Sheik and his small band eventually decide to help Dastan
and the princess to hide the dagger but they are attacked by a secret order of assassins,
the Hassansin who steal the dagger and Dastan’s real struggle to prove his
innocence and save the kingdom begins

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Being an orphan and adoption; invasions, time travel, sorcery, treason and betrayal

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

Prince of Persia contains intense sequences
of violence and action throughout, but with an unrealistic lack of blood and
gore, no extremely gruesome images and as much acrobatic footwork in fights as
blows struck. Examples include:

A soldier slaps a young boy several times
across the face.

While chasing a young boy a soldier falls
through a roof and another fall off a roof.

Two soldiers hold a young boy down with his
arm over a chopping block. A third soldier raises his sword in the air to chop
off the boy’s hand but is stopped by the king.

Dastan engages in a fist fight with another
man with punches to the stomach and face and knees to the head.

When Dastan and his soldiers storm the city
of Alamut, we see a man bash another man’s head against a stone wall, numerous
men shot in the chest and back with arrows, men kicked in the head, a man
thrown over a balcony, a man’s back crushed by a giant wooden wheel and oil set
on fire and poured from a castle wall over men below. Horses run down soldiers
and numerous soldiers are stabbed and slashed by swords. A man kicked under his
chin with enough force to send him flying through the air to land unconscious
on his back.

When a poisoned robe is wrapped around the King
smoke begins to rise off the robe and he cries out in pain and fear. His hands
and face are blackened and burnt and people who touch the King’s robe scream
out in pain as they are also burnt. The King falls to the ground with a black
and burnt face and robe we hear that he is dead.

Princess Tamina attacks Dastan with a sword,
slashing at him several times before lashing him across the chest, leaving a thin,
slightly bloodied, slash.

Princess Tamina lies on the ground
apparently unconscious, but when Dastan approaches her she attacks him,
knocking him unconscious by bashing him over the head with a human skeleton
thigh bone.

Dastan uses two swords to fight off one of
his brothers and several guards. He slashes guards with his swords, also kicking
and punching them in the head. A man is shot in the chest with a crossbow bolt
and another runs head first into a wall. Dastan uses a rope to pull several
guards off a rooftop.

During a fight between Dastan and one of
his brothers, Dastan is punched in the stomach and kicks his brother in the
chest.

During a fight between Dastan and the
Hassansins, a Hassansin wields a whip made of chains with dagger like blades which
narrowly miss Dastan.

A Hassansin throws multiple stiletto blades
at a man and several blades are embedded in the man’s chest; we see small
wounds and a small amount of blood with the man collapsing dead on the floor.

A man has a flying dagger embedded in his
head.

Dastan holds a sword to his brother’s
throat and then in an attempt to convince his brother of his innocence, he plunges
the Dagger of Time into his own chest.

Nizam pushes Tamina into an abyss and she
falls to her death as Dastan watches.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent
scenes, there are a number of scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb
children under the age of five, including the following:

Images of human skeletons skewered /impaled
on wooded pikes.

The Hassansin Leader has a scar disfiguring
his face and strange alien-looking eyes.

Several scenes of large aggressive snakes
capable of burrowing under the sand and leaping high into the air to attack
their victims. One scene shows a close-up image of a snake with its jaws opened
wide and fangs inches away from Dastan’s face. Dastan cuts the snake’s head off
and throws it in Sheik Amar’s lap. In one scene, a snake slithers up a man’s
arm and then vanishes. We also see a snake bite a man on his face.

A Hassansin dressed in black sits on a
black horse which is fitted with spiked armour.

When the Sands of Time are released from
the giant crystal hour glass containing
we see apocalyptic style images of a giant sand storm consuming a city
and see ghost like images of faces swirling around in the sand.

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by the above mentioned scenes.

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above mentioned violent and
disturbing scenes, children in this age group may be also disturbed by the story
of a young girl sacrificing herself to the gods in order to save humanity.

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Younger children in this age group may also
by disturbed by some of the above-mentioned violence and disturbing scenes.

Product placement

None
of concern

Sexual references

There are some mild sexual references in
this movie, including:

On a number of occasions reference is made
to one of the Princes having more than one wife.

In one scene, Princes Tamina catches Dastan
looking down the top of her dress and asks, “Found what you are looking for
Prince?”

Tamina tells Dastan “There must be some
reason you can’t take your eyes off me. I’m not some desperate slave girl”.

Tamina tells Dastan that if he wants the
dagger he will have to search her for it.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in
this movie, including:

Dastan and Tamina kiss each other on the
lips

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this
movie, including:

In several scenes people drink wine from
goblets.

The King drinks wine from a goblet and
behaves as if mildly intoxicated.

A reference is made to a man not being
permitted to drink fermented goats milk before a certain time of day.

Dastan falls through a ceiling to land in
the middle of a group of woman drinking wine from goblets.

Coarse language

None of concern

In a nutshell

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, based
upon a video game, is a fantasy action adventure. Although the film has an (M)
rating for violence, it is likely to appeal to young boys.

The main messages from this movie are:

No matter how poor or disadvantaged, all
people are capable of great achievements by making the right choices.

You should listen to advice, but also trust
what your heart is telling you.

A family can be a person’s greatest
strength and support.

Values in this movie that parents may wish
to reinforce with their children include:

Willingness to listen and see reason: Even
though both brothers were distraught about the death of their father and believed
Dastan to be responsible, they were still able to objectively listen to Dastan
and accept his explanation of his innocence

Honesty and selflessness: The qualities
that bought Dastan to the King’s attention were his willingness to stand up and
defend his friends regardless of threats to his personal safety.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their
children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

the Persian justification for invading the
city of Alamut, which has parallels in the current situation in Iraq.